We enjoyed a leisurely afternoon at the museum, while waiting for the factory tour and can heartily recommend taking time out to do so, if you're in the area

For all those car enthusiasts who make the trip to the Modena region of Italy, making the supercar pilgrimage, a visit to the Lamborghini museum is an absolute must. It's a recent development, as it was added following Audi's purchase of the company, and the facelift of the factory.

However, the original buildings are still very much in evidence, so traditionalists shouldn't worry too much. The museum was opened in 2002, and although modest in size, it's packed full of interesting Lamborghini prototypes, pictures, and other automobilia. Most important cars include the oldest surviving Lamborghini Countach LP400, a green car that was second off the line, following the destruction of the original LP500 prototype in crash testing at MIRA. The museum hopes to have that car running in the near future.

Other cars worth making a special visit incude a Diablo Roadster prototype, the 350 GTV prototype, and a yellow Miura SV once owned by Ferruccio Lamborghini. There's also a number of non-production cars, including some fascinating L140 prototypes (it's the baby Lamborghini missing link that preceded the Gallardo), a couple of Lamborghini-powered Formula One cars, and various models and other artefacts.

We enjoyed a leisurely afternoon at the museum, while waiting for the factory tour and can heartily recommend taking time out to do so, if you're in the area. It's not just the pleasure that you get from looking at these unique cars that makes it worth the trip, but also seeing how much the other visitors enjoy them, too.

The museum and factory tour are available by appointment, details to the right...

Links:

The Gallardo factory
Gallardo Valentino Balboni first drive